QCD Model Research Articles

Hybrid star properties with the NJL and mean field approximation of QCD models: A Bayesian approach

Hybrid star properties with the NJL and mean field approximation of QCD models: A Bayesian approach

Study of net-baryon higher moments in PNJL model and their expectation for net-proton using the subensemble acceptance method for the search of QCD critical point

The critical point is one of the most important aspects of the QCD phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. The nonmonotonic behavior of the higher-order moments of conserved quantities like net-baryon (ΔB), net-charge (ΔQ), and net-strangeness (ΔS) are believed to be the signatures of the QCD critical point as a function of energy. We study the effect of the QCD critical point on moments of net-baryon in the Polyakov loop enhanced Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model of QCD with six-quark and eight-quark interactions for finite and infinite volume systems. The study is performed at energies similar to Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider beam energy scan. Experimentally measuring conserved quantities is difficult due to systematic limitations. Therefore, net-proton, net-pion, and net-kaon are measured as the proxy of ΔB, ΔQ, and ΔS. Recent studies in the subensemble acceptance method on the hadron resonance gas (HRG) model show the dependency of the measured higher-order moment on the experimental acceptance. We applied the subensemble acceptance method to analyze the behavior of κσ2 of net-baryon distribution within the subvolume system for various acceptance fractions. These results can be directly mapped to the subvolume (particle) percentage of the total volume (conserved quantities). Our findings are compared to the solenoidal tracker at RHIC (STAR) net-proton and proton data with different energies to investigate the presence of the critical point. Additionally, these results are also compared with the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD), HRG model, and available lattice data. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Phase diagram of a generalized Stephanov model for finite-density QCD

We solve a random matrix model for QCD at finite chemical potential, obtained by generalizing the Stephanov model by modifying the random-matrix integration measure with a one-parameter trace deformation. This allows one to check how important the integration measure is for the qualitative features of random matrix models, as well as to test the robustness and universality of the qualitative picture of the original model. While for a small trace deformation the phase diagram is identical to that of the Stephanov model, for a large deformation an exotic phase with spontaneous charge-conjugation breaking appears. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Inhomogenuous instabilities at large chemical potential in a rainbow-ladder QCD model

In this work we continue our efforts to study the existence of a phase with an inhomogeneous, i.e., spatially varying, chiral condensate in QCD. To this end we employ a previously established method of stability analysis of the two-particle irreducible effective action in a truncation that corresponds to a rainbow-ladder approximation of the quark-gluon interaction of QCD. If the analysis is restricted to homogeneous phases, the phase diagram features a first-order chiral transition in the lower-temperature regime. Performing the stability analysis along the lower-chemical-potential border of the corresponding spinodal region, we find that below a certain temperature the homogeneous chirally symmetric solution is unstable against inhomogeneous condensation. We argue that this instability may persist to chemical potentials above the homogeneous first-order phase boundary, in which case it signals the existence of an inhomogeneous ground state. Our methodology is also applicable for more sophisticated truncations of the QCD effective action. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

CGC and saturation approach: Impact-parameter dependent model of perturbative QCD and combined HERA data

In this paper we confront the color glass condensate and saturation approach of Contreras [Non-linear equation in the re-summed next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD: The leading twist approximation, ] with the experimental combined HERA data and obtain its parameters. The model includes two features that are in accordance with our theoretical knowledge of deep inelastic scattering. These consist of: (i) the use of analytical solution for the nonlinear Balitsky-Kovchegov evolution equation and () the exponential behavior of the saturation momentum on the impact parameter b-dependence, characterized by Qs∝exp(−mb) which reproduces the correct behavior of the scattering amplitude at large b in accord with Froissart theorem. The model results are then compared to data at small-x for the structure function of the proton F2, the longitudinal structure function FL, the charm structure function F2cc¯, the exclusive vector meson (J/ψ,ϕ,ρ) production and deeply virtual Compton scattering. We obtain a good agreement for the processes in a wide kinematic range of Q2 at small-x. Our results provide a strong guide for finding an approach, based on color glass condensate and saturation effective theory for high-energy QCD, to make reliable predictions from first principles and for forthcoming experiments like the Electron Ion Collider and the LHeC. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Inverse magnetic catalysis and energy loss in a holographic QCD model

In this paper, we consider the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton holographic model for light quarks with nonzero magnetic field and chemical potential. First, we study the phase diagrams in T−μ and T−B planes. We observe inverse magnetic catalysis which is consistent with the lattice QCD results. We discuss the influence of the magnetic field and chemical potential on the location of the critical end point (CEP). It is found that the magnetic field increases the critical μCEP of the CEP in the T−μ plane and the chemical potential increases the critical BCEP of the CEP in the T−B plane. Second, we discuss the equations of state (EOS) with nonzero magnetic field and chemical potential. We observe that the EOS near the phase transition temperature are nonmonotonic. Then we study the energy loss with a nonzero magnetic field and chemical potential. It is found that the drag force of the heavy quark and jet quenching parameter q^ show an enhancement near the phase transition temperature. The peak values of drag force and q^ are pushed toward lower temperature with increasing B or μ. This phenomenon is consistent with the phase transition temperature decrease with increasing B or μ in this holographic model. Moreover, we find that the heavy quark may lose more energy when it is perpendicular to a magnetic field, which is consistent with the results of the jet quenching parameter. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

New proxies for second-order cumulants of conserved charges in heavy-ion collisions within the EPOS4 framework

Proxies for cumulants of baryon number B, electric charge Q, and strangeness S are usually measured in heavy-ion collisions via moments of net-number distribution of given hadronic species. Since these cumulants of conserved charges are expected to be sensitive to the existence of a critical point in the phase diagram of nuclear matter, it is crucial to ensure that the proxies used as substitutes are as close to them as possible. Hence, we use the 4 framework to generate Au+Au collisions at several collision energies of the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider beam energy scan. We compute second-order net cumulants of π, K, and p, for which experimental data have been published as well as the corresponding conserved charge cumulants. We then compare them with proxies, defined in previous lattice QCD and hadron resonance gas model studies, which are shown to reproduce more accurately their associated conserved charge cumulants. We investigate the impact of hadronic rescatterings occurring in the late evolution of the system on these quantities, as well as the amount of signal actually originating from the bulk medium which endures a phase transition. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Nucleon electric and magnetic polarizabilities in holographic QCD

We analyze the resonance contributions to the generalized Baldin sum rule, namely the sum of the generalized electric and magnetic nucleon polarizabilities αE(Q2) and βM(Q2), within the holographic QCD model by Witten, Sakai, and Sugimoto (WSS). In particular, we account for the contributions from the first low-lying nucleon resonances with spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 and both parities. After having extrapolated the WSS model parameters to fit experimental data on baryonic observables, we compare our findings with alternative predictions in literature, finding a qualitative agreement with all of them. Moreover, at least for the proton case, where data are available, our results are in qualitative accordance with resonance contributions extracted from experimental nucleon-resonance helicity amplitudes. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Gauge-equivariant pooling layers for preconditioners in lattice QCD

We demonstrate that gauge-equivariant pooling and unpooling layers can perform as well as traditional restriction and prolongation layers in multigrid preconditioner models for lattice QCD. These layers introduce a gauge degree of freedom on the coarse grid, allowing for the use of explicitly gauge-equivariant layers on the coarse grid. We investigate the construction of coarse-grid gauge fields and study their efficiency in the preconditioner model. We show that a combined multigrid neural network using a Galerkin construction for the coarse-grid gauge field eliminates critical slowing down. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Holographic entanglement properties in the QCD phase diagram from Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton models

In this study, we investigate the behavior of entanglement properties in the QCD phase diagram using holographic Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton models. We consider two representative holographic QCD models and examine various entanglement measures, including entanglement entropy, conditional mutual information, and the entanglement of purification. We find that the entanglement entropy obtained using the direct UV-cutoff renormalization method shows significant dependence on the specific model being used. However, the outcomes of other nondivergent entanglement measures, such as cutoff-independent entanglement entropy, conditional mutual information, and the entanglement of purification, exhibit congruence in our calculations. When we focus specifically on the temperature range below 300 MeV, we observe a similar behavior among the three entanglement measures. This may suggest that within this temperature range, the entanglement of QCD matter decreases with increasing temperature. Additionally, we observe distinct phase transition behaviors of entanglement properties at the critical end point and first-order phase transitions. This observation highlights the potential of entanglement properties as effective order parameters for QCD matter phase transitions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Effect of charm quark on chiral phase transition in Nf=2+1+1 holographic QCD

We investigate the effect of the charm quark on the chiral phase transition of light quarks at finite temperature based on the four-flavor soft-wall holographic QCD model. In the massless limit, we find that the thermal chiral phase transition is of the second order in the four-quark-flavor system. In the case with the massive charm quark and the massless light and strange quarks, the order of the phase transition changes to the first order. This is due to the quark-flavor symmetry breaking which is associated with the violation of the U(1) axial symmetry. Once the light and strange quarks get massive, the explicit chiral symmetry breaking becomes eminent, and then the crossover phase transition is realized at the physical quark masses. We also map the order of the phase transition on a phase diagram in the quark-mass plane where the light- and strange-quark masses are degenerate but differ from the value of the charm-quark mass. This phase diagram is an extension of the conventional Columbia plot to the four-quark-flavor system. The critical exponents related to the chiral phase transition are also addressed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Chiral-vacuum excited replicae in QCD modeling

We present a detailed study of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) gap equation “replicae” or excited vacuum states, orthogonal to the ground-state one, in the chiral-quark sector of the Hamiltonian Coulomb-gauge model of chromodynamics. Analyzing the number of negative eigenmodes of the energy density’s Hessian we believe that we have identified all of the (negative energy-density) vacua of this nonlinear system, namely the ground BCS state and one (or two) replicae for slightly massive (or massless) quarks, given the interaction strength typical of the strong interactions. The meson spectrum over each of the replicae looks similar, so the differences are not significant enough given model uncertainties, but matrix elements are more sensitive and allow to distinguish them. We propose to look for such excited vacua in lattice gauge theory by trying to identify excitations with scalar quantum numbers which have energies proportional to the lattice volume (unlike conventional mesons for which the mass stabilizes to a constant upon taking the infinite volume limit). Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Atmospheric muons measured with the KM3NeT detectors in comparison with updated numeric predictions

The measurement of the flux of muons produced in cosmic ray air showers is essential for the study of primary cosmic rays. Such measurements are important in extensive air shower detectors to assess the energy spectrum and the chemical composition of the cosmic ray flux, complementary to the information provided by fluorescence detectors. Detailed simulations of the cosmic ray air showers are carried out, using codes such as CORSIKA, to estimate the muon flux at sea level. These simulations are based on the choice of hadronic interaction models, for which improvements have been implemented in the post-LHC era. In this work, a deficit in simulations that use state-of-the-art QCD models with respect to the measurement deep underwater with the KM3NeT neutrino detectors is reported. The KM3NeT/ARCA and KM3NeT/ORCA neutrino telescopes are sensitive to TeV muons originating mostly from primary cosmic rays with energies around 10 TeV. The predictions of state-of-the-art QCD models show that the deficit with respect to the data is constant in zenith angle; no dependency on the water overburden is observed. The observed deficit at a depth of several kilometres is compatible with the deficit seen in the comparison of the simulations and measurements at sea level.

Symmetry energy in holographic QCD

We study the symmetry energy (SE), an important quantity in nuclear physics, in the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model and in a much simpler hard-wall model of holographic QCD. The SE is the energy contribution to the nucleus due to having an unequal number of neutrons and protons. Using a homogeneous Ansatz representing smeared instantons and quantizing their isospin, we extract the SE and the proton fraction assuming charge neutrality and beta-equilibrium, using quantization of the isospin zeromode. We also show the equivalence between our method adapted from solitons and the usual way of the isospin controlled by a chemical potential at the holographic boundary. We find that the SE can be well described in the WSS model if we allow for a larger ’t Hooft coupling and lower Kaluza-Klein scale than is normally used in phenomenological fits.

Nucleons and vector mesons in a confining holographic QCD model

We present a simple holographic QCD model that provides a unified description of vector mesons and nucleons in a confining background based on Einstein-dilaton gravity. For the confining background, we consider analytical solutions of the Einstein-dilaton equations where the dilaton is a quadratic function of the radial coordinate far from the boundary. We build actions for the 5D gauge field and the 5D Dirac field dual to the 4D flavor current and the 4D nucleon interpolator, respectively. In order to obtain asymptotically linear Regge trajectories, we impose for each sector the condition that the effective Schrödinger equation has a potential that grows quadratically in the radial coordinate far from the boundary. For the vector mesons, we show that this condition is automatically satisfied by a 5D Yang-Mills action minimally coupled to the metric and the dilaton. For the nucleons, we find that the mass term of the 5D Dirac action needs to be generalized to include couplings to the metric and the dilaton. Using Sturm-Liouville theory, we obtain a spectral decomposition for the hadronic correlators consistent with large Nc QCD. Our setup contains only three parameters: the mass scale associated with confinement, the 5D gauge coupling, and the 5D Dirac coupling. The last two are completely fixed by matching the correlators at high energies to perturbative QCD. We calculate masses and decay constants and compare our results against available experimental data. Our model can be thought of as a consistent embedding of soft wall models in Einstein-dilaton gravity. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Chiral symmetry restoration at finite temperature in a model with manifest confinement

Multiple lattice evidences support the existence of a confining but chirally symmetric regime of QCD above the chiral symmetry restoration crossover at Tch≃155 MeV. This regime is characterised by an approximate chiral spin symmetry of the partition function, which is a symmetry of the colour charge and the confining electric part of the QCD Lagrangian. It is traditionally believed that confinement should automatically induce spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry, which would preclude the existence of a confining but chirally symmetric regime of QCD at high temperatures. We employ a well-known solvable quark model for QCD in 3+1 dimensions that is chirally symmetric and manifestly confining and argue that while confinement indeed induces dynamical breaking of chiral symmetry at T=0, a chiral restoration phase transition takes place at some critical temperature Tch. Above this temperature, the spectrum of the model consists of chirally symmetric hadrons with approximate chiral spin symmetry.

Spin-1 glueballs in the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model

We consider the vector and the pseudovector glueball in the top-down holographic model of large-Nc QCD of Witten and their decays into ordinary mesons described by the D8 brane construction due to Sakai and Sugimoto. At leading order, the relevant interactions are determined exclusively by the Chern-Simons action of the D8 branes and are thus rigidly connected to the chiral anomaly and the Wess-Zumino-Witten terms. As found in a previous study of the pseudovector glueball, which we revisit and complete, the resulting decay widths are surprisingly large, implying that both the pseudovector and the vector glueball are very broad resonances, with a conspicuous dominance of decays into a1ρ and K1(1400)K* in the case of the vector glueball. We also obtain a certain weak mixing of vector glueballs with ordinary vector mesons, but we conclude that it does not provide an explanation for the so-called ρπ puzzle in charmonium decays. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Role of Coulomb interaction in elastic pion-proton scattering from holography

Differential cross sections of the elastic pion-proton scattering are investigated at very small momentum transfer in a holographic QCD model, considering both the strong and Coulomb interaction in the Regge regime. The strong interaction is described by the Pomeron and Reggeon exchange, and the Coulomb interaction is characterized by the one photon exchange. The two interactions are linked through an interference term and we only need to determine a single adjustable parameter involved in this term. As to the parameters for the strong interaction, we can utilize the values determined in the previous studies. The differential cross sections can be predicted without any additional parameters, and it is shown that our predictions are consistent with the experimental data. We explicitly show the momentum transfer dependence for the interference effect. The energy dependence of the contribution ratios for each component is also discussed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Heavy quarkonium spectral function in an anisotropic background

In this paper, we use a five-dimensional Einstein-dilaton-two-Maxwell holographic QCD model to investigate the dissociation effects of J/Ψ and ϒ(1S) states in an anisotropic medium by calculating their spectral functions. First, we present the holographic quarkonium masses at zero temperature via physics-informed neural networks. Then, at a finite temperature, we derive the spectral functions, representing heavy vector mesons as peaks, and observe that with increasing anisotropy, temperature, chemical potential, and warp factor, the peak height diminishes while its width expands, indicating an accelerated dissociation process. Additionally, the results indicate the anisotropy induces a stronger dissociation effect in the direction parallel to the polarization compared to the perpendicular, revealing the anisotropy’s directional influence. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Resonance contributions to nucleon spin structure in holographic QCD

We study polarized inelastic electron-nucleon scattering at low momentum transfer in the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model of holographic QCD, focusing on resonance production contributions to the nucleon spin structure functions. Our analysis includes both spin 3/2 and spin 1/2 low-lying nucleon resonances with positive and negative parity. We determine, in turn, the helicity amplitudes for nucleon-resonance transitions and the resonance contributions to the neutron and proton generalized spin polarizabilities. Extrapolating the model parameters to realistic QCD data, our analysis, triggered by recent experimental results from Jefferson Lab, agrees with the observation that the ∆(1232) resonance gives the dominant contribution to the forward spin polarizabilities at low momentum transfer. The contribution is negative and tends to zero as the momentum transfer increases. As expected, the contribution of the ∆(1232) to the longitudinal-transverse polarizabilities is instead negligible. The latter, for both nucleons, turn out to be negative functions with zero asymptote. The holographic results, at least for the proton where enough data are available, are in qualitative agreement with the resonance contributions to the spin polarizabilities extracted from experimental data on the helicity amplitudes.